


Sick Day

by kealin



Category: senki senki momotama - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 22:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kealin/pseuds/kealin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was not unheard of to have any of the three guardian beasts of Tougen Island be overcome with sickness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick Day

**Author's Note:**

> This story is completely unbeta'd so if there are any mistakes, please forgive me. I also understand that this fandom is tiny, verging on non-existent but when the muse bug bites you can't really fight it off now can you? Perhaps this will also inspire some to look up the series and create more fan works for it! I won't hold my breath but one can hope.

It was not unheard of to have any of the three guardian beasts of Tougen Island be overcome with sickness.  Even the merciful former Momotarou, Musashi Tougen, had fallen to cancer causing great heartache to his great granddaughter, Nachi. That was an illness that left little chance of recovery and though all the doctors could do was to make Musashi comfortable in his remaining days; he had long come to accept that his end would come. The Chairman hadn’t blinked an eye when he heard of his grandfather’s condition, fully understanding that life had to end at some point.

When Nachi had taken ill with fever in her younger years, Kouichirou wept for the entire duration of her bedridden days and Nagato only kindly reminded Langley that if his precious daughter did not recover, a great many horrifying things would happen for the rest of his life. She recuperated in no time, much to the relief of the doctor and to Kouichirou in particular.

When Yamato Kouichirou became ill, the entirety of Tougen Island prayed for their lives. There was a time, before Musashi had been diagnosed with cancer, when the dog guardian beast became incapacitated for two weeks. Nagato would have leveled the entire island if his grandfather had not been on hand to stop his grandson. Then there were other times when a bedridden Kouichirou was a blessing in disguise as Nagato would become more indulgent than usual to help his favorite teacher recover.

 

One had to take note that things only got so far because the Chairman was once away in Japan to settle a few contracts. Being left on his own to handle the island was nothing new for the dog guardian beast, but there were often times when he became too engrossed in caring for others, namely Kokonose, that he simply forgot to care for himself. It was a trait that endeared him to the other staff members and also one that caused them great strife. It delighted them that he would often go out of his way for others, but that was quickly overridden by immense trepidation of the Chairman should he ever find out just how frequently they had Kouichirou doing monotonous errands for them when he was free.

Being accessible for every task and risking his neck for his students had finally caught up with Kouichirou when he woke up one morning dazed, sweating and unable to crawl any further from his bedside before he promptly discharged his stomach contents.  He remained on the floor for about an hour and a half before one of the staff members came looking for him when he hadn’t shown up for breakfast. Everything else became a blur as a burst of footsteps and voices entered his room and hands seized his body to lift him up.

When he was returned to his bed, he could dimly recall hearing Langley’s rough voice, inquiring for his temperature and demanding someone to clean up the mess he had made on the carpet. Kouichirou managed to open his eyes though his vision was blurred and lids felt heavy.

“I’m sorry,” he rasped out as one of the nurses tucked his comforter under his chin.

He heard a grunt as he dipped in and out of consciousness, the doctor’s voice becoming distant as he faded out.

“Just get better quickly.”

Kouichirou spent the remainder of the day in bed, slipping in and out of sleep at intervals. A nurse had been assigned to keep watch over him and he could hear her voice every now and then asking him if he was feeling any better, taking his temperature and making sure he didn’t regurgitate any of the porridge he had managed to eat. Even in his fitful sleep, he found himself worrying over his students and Kokonose especially. His dreams conjured up frightful images of the small boy taking up a foolish dare given to him by the older students and facing the demons of Tougen Island alone. He saw Kokonose facing five level two demons and reflectively clutched at his comforter as he called out in his sleep for the young boy to run away. His ears picked up an all too confident voice, too clear to be something from his dreams.

“Like hell I’m running away from anything on this island.” Kokonose scoffed from where he sat, arms crossed against his chest as he scowled at his bedridden teacher. “Even in your sleep, you doubt this Kokonose?”

It took more effort than he’d like to admit to get his eyes to open to look at his young student. Sitting there on the chair with his oversized coat draped across his tiny shoulders, Kouichirou mused that Kokonose looked more like a gangster in those popular Japanese manga than a child. He certainly had the overbearing aura of one and it did not help that the sun behind him casted dark shadows across his young face. Still, seeing his student safe and sound calmed his heart and Kouichirou summoned a small smile for the boy.

“Hey,” Kokonose muttered, eyes narrowing down at him. “Get better soon. I don’t like that Hibiki guy.”

Kouichirou’s eyes had closed before he could think up of a response, wanting to tell Kokonose that he shouldn’t be saying such things about his teacher. Sometime later, his ears picked up the sound of his cell phone ringing from his bedside table. He instinctively knew who it was despite being ill and drugged with medication an inborn loyalty propelled his movements to answer his master’s call. Eyes still heavy and closed, he willed his arm to move, shoving the heavy comforter from his shoulder and unsteady fingers reaching out blindly for his phone.

Slender fingers slid into his clammy ones and held on. Kouichirou pressed his eyes tightly together, letting out a soft groan as he mustered up the strength to part his lids. The ringing of the cell phone came to an abrupt stop when his visitor answered, a suave and familiar voice filling his ears.

“I’m afraid Kouichirou is unable to answer your call this time, Mr. Chairman,” Johnny Rayflo’s voice purred into the receiver as he smiled down at Kouichirou when the man finally opened his eyes. The vampire grinned suddenly, eyes gleaming and fangs showing as he continued to play with Kouichirou’s captive hand. “I assure you I did nothing of the sort. You know I prefer virgin blood. Although, he looks so weak and pathetic at the moment, I just might go against my preferences.”

The vampire promptly hung up after that, tossing his cell phone aside, and were he not already rosy from fever, Kouichirou was certain his face would have been bright red at the comment when those golden eyes smiled down at him.

“Shouldn’t… provoke…” Kouichirou breathed, flinching at how rough and parched his throat had become. He complied when Johnny slid a hand behind his neck, cool fingers causing him to shudder as the vampire helped him sit up enough to drink a bit of juice before easing him back down.

“It’s fun to tease them every now and then, Kouichirou,” Johnny assured his friend – teacher?—as he slid his fingers through sweat soaked hair. “You should see how red Cherry gets!” He snickered.

Kouichirou had wanted to reprimand the vampire, the words on the tip of his tongue but he found himself focusing on the feeling of how those fingers felt against his scalp. Eyes becoming heavy once more as he unconsciously tilted his head up against the cool hand as Johnny continued to pet him and he fought against an uncontrollable urge to ask the man to scratch him behind his ears.

Soon enough he was dreaming once more. He dreamt of ceaseless cerulean above him with looming green trees framing the sky. He dreamt of long cold nights huddled on all too thin cloth and sharp twigs poking into his tender sides. He dreamt of eating poisonous mushrooms and suffering from diarrhea days on end as his body sought to rid itself of the substance. Kouichirou shifted to and fro on his bed as he slept, words coming out as whispers and soft cries as fingers grasped roughly at his bed sheets. Tears had begun to gather at the corner of his eyes and flowed freely as he let out a whimper as his body flinched under phantom beatings.

His motions were stilled when strong hands gripped his wrists, pinning them down as a dear voice called out his name. Kouichirou tilted his head up, nose taking in the familiar scent to calm down his heart before his eyes open to allow more tears to slide down his cheeks. The looming figure of Nagato Tougen, while domineering and intimidating to some, brought nothing but a rush of reassurance and peace to Kouichirou and a small unbidden whine rushed through his lips as the younger man released his wrists to wipe away his tears.

“Did you have a bad dream?” Nagato questioned as he cleaned Kouichirou’s flushed face, ignoring the way the chain around his wrist quaked. He said no more as he silently soothed the older man back to sleep, his thumb stroking a heated cheek as Kouichirou’s breathing evened out. He settled in silent vigil over his guardian beast until the chain shook no more.

No dreams plagued Kouichirou’s sleep for the remainder of the night and though his condition was no better than the day before his mind was no longer as foggy as he woke up the next morning to two voices conversing over his person.

“—exactly how you let this happen?” Nagato demanded. He had long discarded his coat and pulled his tie lose from his collar, reclining back in his chair with one leg crossed casually over the other as he slid a stick of gum into his mouth.

Across the bed, Keith Langley stood bravely in the face of impending danger; behind him, hovering in the safely of the doorframe, stood his staff as they awaited their seniors fate.  The resident doctor sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I had ordered him to be careful with his health when he first showed signs of a fever but a few days ago, from what Kashii reported, Kokonose and a few other daring first years decided to—“

From the bed, Kouichirou stirred the desire to protect his students overwhelming as he pushed himself up, turning watery eyes to Nagato. “Please… please don’t punish them.” He begged, fingers gripping his bed sheets tightly. “They’ve already learned their lesson! They won’t--!”

Keith watched with veiled astonishment as Nagato’s pokerfaced expression melted into gentle care as he stood and quieted Kouichirou.

“Yes, yes. As you wish, I won’t punish them.” Nagato eased the older man back with one hand as he waved the doctor out of the room with the other. As the door clicked shut, he beamed down at his bedridden companion. “But you know, this is the sixth time that boy owed his life to you. If it happens again, I don’t think I can go easy on him.”

Kouichirou only gave him a pleading gaze. “He’s trying,” the teacher begged, tears threatening to form at the corner of his eyes.

Nagato contemplated the man before him, steady green eyes taking in the well of warm water as they spilled over reddened cheeks. Closing his eyes in defeat, he let out a soft laugh as he rested one arm on his knee, chin against his knuckles as he dutifully brushed Kouichirou’s tears away.

“Let me be the judge of that, Kou-sensei.” Nagato murmured.

“But he is!” Kouichirou insisted, “He’d scoff and play it off as nothing when I praise and encourage him but I know it must be hard for him. Even… even when the other students play tricks on him, I know it must hurt him inside but he just acts like it’s nothing—“

“Kou-sensei…” Nagato growled brows creasing as he leaned down closer to the older man. An unpleasant feeling had settled itself in the pit of his stomach as he listened to Kouichirou go on and on about the annoying little kid. “It’s really hard to tend to you when all you’re talking about is that brat. I even came home early for you.”

Dark eyes widened in guilt, Kouichirou’s mouth partly opened in mid-sentence as he looked up at Nagato. Closing his lips, he unconsciously leaned against the hand that scratched at the back of his ear lightly.

“I’m sorry,” Kouichirou apologized, subdued as that hand left to replace the dry towel on his forehead with a cooler one. He closed his eyes momentarily as cold beads of water slid down his forehead, Nagato’s fingers quickly wiping their trails clean. Once that had been taken care of, Kouichirou’s eyes parted once more and he looked up at the younger man silently, taking in the strange look of in the green eyes above him.

“Welcome home,” Kouichirou greeted belatedly.

Nagato’s face bloomed into a satisfied look instantly at those words. He had received similar words from his staff the night before, and again this morning, when he had returned and all but rushed to Kouichirou’s room. While he accepted them wordlessly, none of their greetings carried any weight and the unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach eased away when the man before him uttered those two simple words. He could never really settle down until Kouichirou welcomed him back.

“I’m home,” Nagato responded in kind, nearly purring his words in contentment as he smiled at Kouichirou.

Sick or not, Yamato Kouichirou was Tougen Island’s ultimate weapon in more ways than one.


End file.
